His Cerulean eyes
by Dapperfatcat
Summary: He was always fascinated, watchful and bordering on unstable. She tried to forget their past, forget him, she was doing so well until the football game. Set around Dark Knight Rises although dabbles into Batman Begins. Jonathan Crane/OC. Jonathan Crane belongs to DC, Amanda belongs to me.
1. Chapter 1

I never thought things would go this far. Not even with Jonathan a foolish notion I'm aware but I believed it to all be part of his new found psychosis, I had watched him change from man to scarecrow and I can tell you right now the scarecrow isn't Jonathan. He switches and changes so subtle that only those who knew the quiet man from before would be able to tell when his alter ego takes over. Stalking, threats were one thing but kidnapping was a whole other ball game, we've been through this once before I never thought he would try it again...this time though there are no police to rush through the door to save me. I am utterly alone.

My breath came out as little plumes of smoke in the early morning air and despite the chaos down at the stock exchange only a week ago thousands of people were already lining up to get the best seats for the ball game. The recent robberies and appearance of the Batman after eight years were pushed to the backs of everyone's mind including mine, nothing concerned me that day apart from if the Gotham team would win, most barely even notice the herds of police being shepherded into the underground network of tunnels hidden beneath Gotham city. Beside me Amy bounced in excitement she had been my best friend for years we were inseparable since that first day in class, she was the type of girl who never attracted attention until you truly realised how beautiful she was, wild brown hair like a lions mane and the brightest blue eyes you'd ever see. Oh and she utterly towered over me at 5'7 nearing on 8 Amy was tall compared to most girls but for little 5' me I was dwarfed. I tried to hush her excited little squeals as a boy no older than 12 stepped out onto the field he looked so tiny surrounded by the green pitch I couldn't help but think he was a very well dressed ant. The voice that came out from that Ant was absolutely mesmerising much louder than I imagined, hauntingly so, there was no way of stopping the shudder cringe down my spine the type that warns you that someone is watching. It would be a lie to say that I am not constantly alert and watching for the tell tale burlap sack with cerulean blue eyes peering out from the stitching, paranoid was my middle name and rightly so. Jonathan Crane or the Scarecrow as he had become was the one thing in the world that truly terrified me right down to my core.

It was eight years before that I first laid eyes on Doctor Crane being only 16 at time my brain barely registered the heated gaze that fell on me whenever he caught a glance of me perched on the green plastic chair waiting outside my father's office. My father worked as a Doctor within the walls of arkham asylum, he was young only 37 and had just begun to work under Jonathan in an intern role, despite Doctor Crane's lack of years he was incredibly smart I believe that was what scared me most and yet intrigued me even more.

Heated glances when no one was looking became small talk which eventually led onto small gestures of kindness, a cup of tea in his warm office instead of waiting out in the rather draughty hallways while my father finished his rounds. I was young and Jonathon Crane was beautiful in my eyes as any older man is in the eyes of a naive teenager, minutes could pass before his subtle little clearing of his throat would alert me to the fact that I had been staring at either his longish dark chocolate hair or those bright blue eyes that captured even more light whenever he removed the thin wire framed glasses which perched on the bridge of his nose. Acting on his feelings of course was not worth his high paid job or reputation so we remained friends, to the outside world he was no more than a private tutor who whenever I foolishly wandered into his castle would hand over yet another in depth read on topics such as analysing the human mind. Now being older and I would hope much wiser it dawned upon me that he was trying to pull me into his world where he ruled over with fear and power, perhaps one day hoping I would grace him with my presence as an intern at the asylum.

This however was not how things played out.

A time came with Jonathan began to change an anger that undoubtedly remained hidden beneath the cool outer persona was beginning to claw its way to the surface, after an argument about a rather eyebrow raising new treatment my father packed his bags and left arkham asylum forever taking me as well. From looking back over the past I could only assume that Jonathan has trusted my father with the knowledge of his newly created fear toxin. Jonathon Crane was never mentioned in our household again. Well not until the night he turned the streets of the narrows into hell on earth, the screams echoed throughout the city it was difficult to tell if they were human or animal they were so shrill and long. In our suburban house across the river Father was quite adamant that I would be safe while he left to tend to the quickly filling halls of Gotham general hospital, the danger wasn't near our home the bridge was up there was no way anything would be able to cross the river without the wall of heavily armed riot police gunning it down.

Hearing the key turn in the lock and the thud of the heavy front door closing it took me a moment of staring at the clock in the dining room to figure out that if it was my Father returning from the hospital he had only been gone just over an hour. Instantly my brow creased in concern it couldn't be him he had assured me that it would take nearly all night if not into the early hours to sort through all the sick and wounded. Dashing for the kitchen light my hand reached the switched just in time to flood the room with darkness as someone came down the hall pausing to shuffle his or her feet before kicking open the kitchen door. Screwing my eyes shut my lungs felt like they were ready to burst as I held in my panicked breaths sliding down the wall to curl myself into the useless but protective ball _if I can't see you you can't see me_ being the logic of the night. But being in such a useless position did not help in the slightest as the lights came on with a click illuminating the tall lean figure that stood ominously over me. I didn't even have time to scream before the burlap sack covered face lurched forward for me cutting off any scream that may have forced its way out of my lungs with darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up was possibly one of the hardest things I have ever had to try, there were times when I heard sirens and concerned voices talking all about one girl. Drugged they would say, kidnapped, minor injuries. In my state of this half sleep I pitied the poor girl and whatever she had been through it must have been awful. It never once occurred to me that perhaps the disjointed voices and moving shadows were talking about me, not until slowly my eyes opened to mere blue slits against the harsh white light above me. With a groan of tiredness my head lolled to the side staring towards the machines all whirring away beside me, if it wasn't for my hand twitching from its first movement in days I doubt that realisation would have dawned on me. Connecting me to the machines were tentacles of clear wire some monitoring others pumping clear liquid into a rather fat looking vein in my wrist.

Wanting so badly to sit up or even just move my bruised hands moved to grasp the railings on either side of my bed...wait bruises? Pausing in my actions I took a moment to just stare down over my body, I was wearing a thin white hospital gown and all my pale slender limbs were marred with little purple bruises. Minor injuries. Everything came crashing down on me all at once opening my mouth to cry out all that came was a rasping whine my throat was so dry it felt like it hadn't had a trickle of water in days every sound I attempted came out as a painful wheeze. Slumping back against the pillows screwing my eyes shut I desperately tried to remember something anything about the events that led to me being hooked up to every type of machine in the hospital. All I saw was the burlap sack with the cerulean eyes staring down at me.

"Amanda. Amanda. Amanda jeez snap out of it" Startling at the sound of snapping fingers in front of me, blinking back to the present it took my mind a few seconds to flow back into focus, football game, Amy and the players had just walked onto the field. Shaking the memories away I managed a rather sheepish smile up to my friend who glanced down at me with concern, "Flash backs again? He hasn't showed up for eight years why do you keep worrying", it took everything for me not to roll my eyes at that statement. As much as I loved Amy I doubted that she would ever truly understand for one she had never been kidnapped by someone who was certified insane and made it his life work to send other people insane. Remaining silent and tight lipped I kept my gaze on the players running around warming up on the pitch below and yet still I found it impossible to shake that being watched feeling.

The bombs went off then. It began as a low rumble spreading throughout the ground shaking the very stadium until with an earth shattering sound we all watched in horror as the city around us began to fall to rubble. Ducking down I pulled Amy down beside me her face was the mirror image of shocked horror as mine, for a moment all we did was stare at one another in complete confusion as the screams reverberated around the football stadium. And then as the silence fell a voice rang out, mechanical, cold and with an accent I couldn't quite place. The voice spoke of a free Gotham one without the rich ruling over the poor but most importantly to me especially was the threat of a very large and very dangerous nuclear bomb set to go off at the click of a button. I could have sworn that I felt my heart drop down into my stomach at that point. "We have to get out of here" my voice was a mere hiss as I shook Amy's shoulder to pull her from the daze that she found herself in, despite the clouded look in her eyes she found it in herself to nod along with my idea and even allowed herself to be dragged along through the swarms of fleeing people. Oh the irony, as soon as something goes wrong everyone listens to the paranoid one, a tiny smirk had snuck onto my face at that little thought.

Fighting through the flood of panicked civilians survival kicked in already a few people had fallen to be trampled beneath the feet of hundreds meeting a rather painful death one that I wished to avoid at all costs. In my clammy hand was Amy's equally clammy hand, it was a comfort to know I wasn't the only one out of the two of us to be absolutely wetting myself. The concern for others was gone it was a free for all as droves of people clambered over each other to reach to exit doors of the stadium.

The fact that I was alive didn't sink in until I heard the car radio click on, closing my eyes for a moment I tried so very hard to picture escaping with Amy, my seatbelt was on so Amy must have dragged me through while one of my infamous panic attacks took hold. "You know you're really very lucky I found you Amanda" murmured a very cool male voice. Fear stabbed into my heart like a thousand tiny icicles, I knew that voice. Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat was a huge task in its own right, I kept my eyes screwed shut while his unnaturally cold finger tips brushed a stray lock of my long wavy blonde hair from my cheekbone. "You haven't aged a day" was it just my imagination or had his voice dropped a few octaves while he spoke those words. Fear was his weapon of choice, he fed on it, breathed it and lavished in it. Wiling my eyes to open I met the piercing gaze of Doctor Jonathan Crane for the first time in eight years. Shit.


	3. Chapter 3

** Thank you all so much for reviewing and reading! Keep the reviews up and please let me know what you're thinking. Just as a small note for some reason it says the word count it only 1,448 words this is not the case the last two chapters came up to 2,222 words.**

For a long moment we just stared at each other all manner of emotion flickering across my face and his although he was a lot more composed than me who was currently gawking at him like one of the dribbling patients he used to treat. I didn't close my mouth until his fingers pushed under my chin effectively closing it for me "Now that wasn't an attractive look" he mumbled the ghost of a teasing smile spreading across his pink lips. The car roared into life as we peeled away from the still screaming football stadium, all around us the city was a complete mess buildings that were caught in the explosions look barely able to stand while upturned cars littered the streets. For once I think even Jonathan was a little concerned about what was happening to Gotham as the whole time he drove his eyebrows knitted together in concentration as he swerved around the wreckages. My voice had still not found a way to work, each time I tried to open my mouth all that came out were pathetic squeaks and each time this happened Jonathan would glance sideways at me with amusement clouding in his eyes.

"Where are you taking me?" such a typical victim sentence I'm aware but at that moment in time my brain wasn't working things out quickly enough for my liking so all that came out was that rather meek question.

Rather than answering me straight away Jonathan pulled the car up to a rather plush looking building near to the centre of Gotham city just across the street from the courthouse, yanking me rather unceremoniously from the car he proceeded to pull me quite roughly by the wrist up into the building unlocking the door with a key he produced from his pocket. Staring up at the huge town house confusion swept over me how an earth had the former doctor turned psycho afforded this, even my father who was on a decent wage at the hospital could only afford an apartment for the two of us in the nicer part of town.

The heavy door closed behind us as we entered into the dark hallway I could just about make out a few doors leading to what I supposed led into a lounge and a kitchen. Crane took a moment to flick the hallway like on revealing a very modestly decorated house with cream walls and oak polished flooring, a staircase rose up showing the two floors above us. Lost in thought I became aware of slender but strong fingers on my shoulders pulling off my coat hanging it up on the rack beside the door. He still had not answered my question. His hands lingered for a moment on my shoulders while his warm soft breathing alerted me to just how close he was at that very moment in time, "Doctor Crane where are we?". He circled around me then like a vulture watching the fear in my face which I couldn't hide, not from him. "You're safe" was all he muttered sharply before once again dragging me by the wrist through the house, for such a lean man it always surprised me just how much strength he possessed especially against someone with such a small build as mine.

Being pushed down onto a kitchen chair by the shoulders I was forced once more to stare into his eyes as he tilted my head up his calculating gaze assessing me for a moment before he moved away as if I was too hot to touch. "You still haven't got over your panic attacks" He stated rather matter of factly as he began to fill the kettle up at the sink still watching me with a sideways glance. Nodding dumbly I continued to stare up at him, you see Jonathan Crane wasn't the start of the panic attacks he just made them a lot worse, my mother died in a car accident when I was 7 that was when they began and of course after his first kidnapping attempt I found it hard to remain calm in most social situations. After he pushed a mug of tea over to me I found myself trying to suppress a hysterical laugh, he'd kidnapped me once again and the first thing he could think of doing was making me a cup of tea just like I'd got home from a hard day at work.

Noting my growing amusement Jonathan seemed to sit up a little straighter annoyance growing behind his crystal eyes as his lips pressed into a thin line, "Amanda drink the tea". My hands wrapped around the mug letting the warm porcelain calm me as I felt trembles begin to rack through my body, the weight of the situation was beginning to sink in...he'd kidnapped me...again.

Finally raising the mug to my lips I took a sip nearly moaning in happiness as the warm liquid trickled down my throat, crazy Jonathan Crane might have been but he did make a good cup of tea. I took a moment to actually look at him he had not changed much over the past eight years he could only be around 30 now but he didn't look any older. The only changes were how thin he appeared and the permanent cruelness in his eyes that I knew didn't belong to him, it belonged to the Scarecrow who lay dormant inside his mind for the time being. I could feel him assessing me also probably taking in the subtle changes in my appearance, I had lost the last of my childhood puppy fat turning into a slender young woman almost too slender, curves that were only beginning to appear when he first met me were now fully formed. Last but not least his eyes travelled up to my blonde hair which I still wore long in curling waves that hung down to my mid back framing my face.

"Are you going to tell me why I'm here", I levelled him with my sternest look narrowing my eyes in contempt in his direction my hands gripping tightly around the mug, it was probably quite a sight for him to behold a small woman who barely reached his shoulder trying to scare him into revealing all, this was also the reason that smug smile spread across his face as he reached to take off the thin wire framed glasses polishing the lenses on his jacket. "Oh Amanda only you I would allow to get away with such a look, only you" he chuckled darkly in his chest glancing up at me, it could have been my imagination but his irises seemed to be darker, much darker.

He stood then scraping his chair back on the floor and in an instant he was by my side tilting my chin up once more but this time his bony fingers dug into my skin brining forth a small whimper from my parted lips. "This is a new world, a new Gotham one that without my help you would trip and fall, you'll learn to be grateful because remember I do this all for you" he hissed only inches from my face. Finally when Jonathan saw the fear in my eyes he released his grip on me staring down at him own hand for a moment before storming off his heavy footfalls creaking on the upstairs landing before the slam of a door followed.

Air rushed back into my lungs taking a breath that I hadn't realised I had been holding, with shaking limbs I forced my brain to work and my body to function, I had to get out. Moving as quietly but as quickly as I possibly could I reached the front door in a manner of seconds my hand reached out to grasp the bronze knob, I was free.

The knob gave a rattle but refused to move, the smile and hope left my face as I stared down in defeat at the door handle, of course he had locked it of course. Feeling the burning tears begin to well up in my eyes I slid down the wall hugging my knees to my body like the child in the kitchen from eight years ago, as much as I tried to control myself a few keening sobs escaped that Jonathan could no doubt hear. Rocking back and forth trying to calm and comfort myself the realisation was beginning to sink in he'd done it this time and no one could possibly take the time to look for one missing person not while the whole city fell into chaos.


End file.
